The Friday Five: SEC Road Wins

The game has yet to be won, but the debate has been out there all week.

How big would a Kentucky win Saturday at No. 2 Alabama be?

Bigger than last year’s upset of No. 1 LSU at Commonwealth Stadium?

Nonsense, I say. Anytime you beat the eventual national champion when they’re top-ranked, you don’t get any better than that. You may come close, but you can’t top it.

Close is what I think a Kentucky win in Tuscaloosa would be this weekend. Make no mistake about it: Bama is good. Really good. And the degree of difficulty is sky-high given how hard it is to win on the road in the SEC. Did you know you can still count UK road wins over ranked conference opponents on one hand dating back to… well, forever. You don’t even need your thumb to do it. There’s been only four since games against ranked opponents started being recorded in 1936.

With that as a backdrop, this week’s edition of The Friday Five offers the best road victories for the Wildcats in SEC play:

1. Kentucky 27, Ole Miss 21: 1964—There weren’t many highlights in the Charlie Bradshaw era, but the biggest was a win over No. 1 ranked Ole Miss. Rick Kestner had one of the best receiving days in UK history, catching nine passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats upset the Rebels at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Kestner caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Rick Nortan and a third on a halfback pass from Rodger Bird. It’s one of only three victories over a No. 1 ranked opponent in UK history. The others were Oklahoma (1951 Sugar Bowl) and LSU (2007 in Lexington).

2. Kentucky 14, Vanderbilt 0: 1947—You wouldn’t expect to find Vanderbilt on one of these lists, but apparently the Commodores (ranked No. 10 at the time) were pretty stout in those days. They had six straight non-losing seasons under coaches Red Sanders and Bill Edwards from 1946-51, but couldn’t get past Bear Bryant, George Blanda & Co. in ‘47. It’s the only other Top 10 SEC road win in the UK history book.

3. Kentucky 33, LSU 13: 1977—It’s hard to put one of these lists together without eventually running into the ‘77 Cats. Fueled by a 24-20 win over Penn State in Happy Valley two weeks earlier, the Cats throttled the 16th-ranked Tigers in Death Valley. All-American defensive end Art Still returned a blocked field goal 52 yards for one score and defensive back Dallas Owens returned an interception 81 yards for another score to highlight the victory. It’s difficult to imagine a team winning two games in more difficult settings in a three-week span.

4. Kentucky 42, Arkansas 29: 2007—The Razorbacks were not ranked at the time, but this one looks even better in hindsight. Arkansas finished with a respectable 8-5 record and was the only other team to defeat eventual national champion LSU. The Razorbacks featured two first-round NFL draft picks in Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, who combined for 306 rushing yards between them, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a 21-point fourth-quarter explosion by Andre Woodson & Co. The Cats also had to go four-deep on the tailback depth chart with true freshman Derrick Locke helping seal the victory with 48 yards and one touchdown in the fourth quarter.

5. Kentucky 17, Tennessee 12: 1984—Michael Jackson, Prince and David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen ruled the pop charts the last time the Wildcats defeated the Volunteers, so there has to be a special place on this list for the last UK team to do it. George Adams rushed for 110 yards, becoming only the third back in school history to that point to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season, and scored two touchdowns. The Vols drove to the UK 12 in the final seconds, but a Tony Robinson pass fell incomplete as time expired. According to a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader, the crowd of 93,791 was the largest ever to watch a Kentucky team play at that time. The Cats went on to defeat Wisconsin 20-19 in the Hall of Fame Bowl and post their best record (9-3) in the last 30 years.